Lotus
cars and staying with friends.
25th
Oct – 7th Nov 2016
Lotus
cars and staying with friends.
With
Janet away in Perth helping to look after grand daughter Poppie while Damien is
away on the rigs for his month long hitch, and mum Hannah is busy at the Police
Academy in Perth, I took the opportunity to head south to catch up with a few
friends who I hadn’t seen since before my overseas jaunt. The fact that there were also a couple of
Lotus related activities happening down south didn’t make the decision too hard
! With Janet away I naturally had to take Trooper with me, so instead of giving
my new Lotus a first long trip, Trooper (the dog) and I packed everything up into
Troopie (the car) and on the 26th October, headed south.
Ashton,
my partner in crime for the 2019 Peking to Paris Rally (commonly abbreviated to
P2P) had recently purchased a car trailer that was located in Queensland, so I
had picked it up from Toowoomba a few days ago, and was taking it down to
Sydney for him. And during the week
before we left, I had made some steps to enable Trooper to climb up into the
back of Troopie – In the past 2-3 years he has not only lost his bounce, but
his back hips are suffering from some kind of arthritis (or old age anyway),
and he can’t even climb up into the back of the Mercedes, let alone into the
high back of Troopie. By the time I have put his bed in the back for him to lie
on, the car is pretty full – He takes up a LOT of space, and by the time you
have his steps in there, and all his food and bowls and treats and everything
else, there is only just room for me !!
Anyway,
eventually we had everything organized and set off the 900 kms south to Sydney. I planned to take two easy days to get there,
and because Ashton lives close to the centre, I wanted to arrive there by about
3 pm so I could get in before the rush hour traffic. On a couple of trial runs in the car the
previous week (like going up to Toowoomba to pick up the trailer) Trooper had
not done very well in the back of the car, and I was concerned that he might be
too nervous to get all the way to Sydney.
Fortunately I needn’t have worried, and after a while he settled down on
his bed in the back and seemed to be doing OK.
I stopped every couple of hours for him to stretch his legs, but each
time I had to unhitch the trailer in order to open the rear doors to let him
out, which was a bit of a pain.
By
about 5 pm we reached Kempsey and I decided to stop there for the night. We
have an excellent book in Australia called “Camps 8” which lists all the laybys
and parking areas and showgrounds where one can camp either for free or for
very few $$, (ie it doesn’t list “normal” camp sites) and from that I was able
to see that the showgrounds in Kempsey were close by. So we got off the highway
and soon found the them – very basic, but they had power, toilets and hot
showers, and lots of space to walk the dog, so were just perfect for just
$15. The coast road south that we had
been on all day has always had lots of roadworks, but is a lot more interesting
than the Newell or New England Highway that run down inland, but this time the
entire road seemed to be undergoing roadworks.
It had been a long stop start day, so I set up Trooper in the annex tent
on the back of the car, and after a quick supper (I had pre-prepared several pre-cooked
meals before I left home) and a walk round the showgrounds, (lots of
interesting smells for Trooper !) we went to bed.
Trooper
didn’t stir until I did at about 7 am – He seemed to do OK on his mattress down
in the tent annex, although his bed does take up more than half the floor space
in there ! By the time you have his
stairs and bowls etc, there isn’t a lot of room to move around. After breakfast we set off for another walk
around the showgrounds, with the intention being to make sure Trooper did all
his “toilet” before we set off down the road in the car ! Mission accomplished, and after packing up,
and having a long chat with Alan the campground host, we got back on the road.
Once
again we stopped every couple of hours, and eventually made it through almost
the centre of Sydney to Ashton’s house by about 3 pm – perfect timing to avoid
the traffic, especially important since I also had a sizable trailer on the
back of the car, and I swear that Sydney’s traffic lanes are a LOT narrower
than normal traffic lanes ! Ashton’s
visiting English niece Olivia was at the house (Ashton and wife Caroline were
both at work, of course), and it took a while for Trooper to get used to the
local menagerie – Ashton has a very lovable labradoodle Jasper, plus two white
fluffy cats, as well as a duck (Donald, of course !) in the back garden. Jasper and Troop were fine, but the cats
were interesting ! Being used to living with Jasper, they have no fear of dogs,
and Trooper is normally quite good with cats – He doesn’t chase them, but just
wants to play with them. But these two
just sat there and stared at Trooper, of crept closer and closer in order to
inspect him, and he was totally transfixed. At one stage one sat in the middle
of the hallway and Troop was too frightened to try to get past, so he just
stood there and stared at the cat for about 15 minutes !
Olivia
is on a gap year from England and intending to travel around Australia and
elsewhere before starting Uni, so we had a long chat about where to go and what
to see in Australia, and most importantly, which time of year to head north (ie
not in the hot summer). Later Ashton and
Caroline came home from work, and we set off to a local pub for dinner –
Fortunately they have one that is very dog friendly, so they came too and soon
settled in under the table. The food was
superb (I had the tenderest Calamari I have had for a long time), and it was a
very pleasant evening.
Once
back at the house, after Trooper had negotiated his way past the cats, we
turned in, although I am not sure how much Trooper slept – He was probably
worried about one of the cats coming in during the night ! They had already
taken up residence on his bed while we were out and also eaten a couple of his
treats which I stupidly left lying around !
Next morning Ashton was gone to work before I even woke up, so Caroline
and I took the dogs to a local park for a run because there was no point in
trying to get out of town until 10 am or so. The park was excellent and we got
home with two exhausted dogs – which was perfect as Trooper could then pass out
in the back of the car !
Photos of the journey south to Sydney are here :- Photos of Brisbane to Sydney
Down to Yackandandah
Photos of the journey south to Sydney are here :- Photos of Brisbane to Sydney
Down to Yackandandah
 |
| On the farm in Yackandandah |
Heading
out of town, I had missed all the rush hour traffic and was soon on the road to
Yackandandah. Where, you might ask
??!! Yack is a small town down on the
edge of the Victorian High Country (think “Man from Snowy River”), and I
absolutely love it down there. This is
Australia’s skiing country, with Mt Buller, Falls Creek, etc etc. so mountains
covered in forests, winding roads, and beautiful scenery. It also helps that our very good friends Jos
and Tony McAlister have a property just outside Yack, and we always love to
visit with them. Their big country
property is now basically a dairy farm with son Jonathan, wife Kate, and new
son Jack running that, while Tony and Jos run their property maintenance
business, so there is always lots to do and see, with horses, cows, dogs, and
chickens running around,
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| Max in the fish pond ! |
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| Selfie with my new girlfriends |
Lotus trackday at Winton, Victoria
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| Ashton lined up in the Lotus XI for its first track outing |
The
next morning I set off to Winton race track a hour down the road to meet some
of my Lotus club friends, leaving Trooper on the farm for the day. (Dogs aren’t
permitted at Motor Racing Circuits, for obvious reasons). Not only was I looking forward to catching up
with lots of good friends, but also Ashton was driving down from Sydney to try
out his “new” 1954 Lotus XI. This car
was originally sold in pieces as a kit car in England, but the owner never
built it. Many years later the car was
sold on to a chap in the USA, still in kit form. He kept it for a number of years, and still
never put the car together, and eventually it was on-sold again to someone in
Australia. This owner also never put the
car together, so when Ashton bought it recently it was a brand new, never been
put together, but 60 year old car ! Being a very collectable car in its day, a
totally unused one was even more so, and this was the first time Ashton was to
try it out on track.
 |
| Coming into the pits after a session |
Victorian
weather is fickle at the best of times, and it has been an incredibly wet
winter here this year, with extensive flooding still evident in some
areas. So we were really lucky to have a
totally blue sky and warm sunshine all day, and it was a great day at the track
day organized just for Lotus’ by the Sydney dealer Simply Sports Cars. They
always run a top day, and there was lots of activity both on and off the track
– Most people already know each other from the Lotus club, so it was a really
friendly and social day. Ashton had a
great day in his car, learning how it handled, and although it is an old and
not very fast car, it clearly demonstrates the engineering skill of Colin
Chapman and Lotus, because it handles brilliantly and Ashton couldn’t stop
smiling all day ! As he gets more used
to the car over the coming weeks, he is going to have a lot of fun in that car.
 |
| Trooper inspecting the chickens !! |
As
the day wound down, I headed the hour drive back to Yack, and found Trooper had
had a great and adventuresome day with everyone – Not least his friend Max
! Apparently when Jos let the chickens
out Trooper had got so excited that he had grabbed one – But fortunately let go
again as soon as Jos shouted at him – No harm done. After a pleasant supper round the table with
everyone, we turned in and slept like logs.
Other photos of the Winton track day here - Car heavy content !
Yackandandah
 |
| Jos & Tony at Ringer Reef winery |
Next
day, Sunday, showed the truth about Victorian weather – It was cold and raining
! Jon, Kate and 16 month old son Jack head out for morning milking at 4.30 am –
Jack normally sleeps in his push chair during the morning session ! After
breakfast Jos, Tony and I went off to a local winery called Ringer Reef near
Bright for a light lunch and a local tasting.
Apparently yesterday in the sunshine they had been very busy – Today we
were the only ones having lunch, sitting wrapped in blankets, sheltering from
the rain under the wide side verandah.
But a very pleasant spot, a delicious antipasto lunch, and some good
wines. After lunch we went on to
Porepunkah and a coffee and cake shop, and once again sheltered from the rain
while we sipped, before heading home.
 |
| Trroper watching the cows being milked by Kate |
Trooper
and I attended the afternoon milking session, and it really is a slick,
automated operation. Jon rides up on the quad bike (often with Jack on the
handlebars) to bring the girls down, and once everything is started, he can
take off to move silage or whatever else he has to do, while Kate can do the
milking. Jack has a swing chair set up
in the dairy, and is quite content to sit there watching his mum and the cows,
munching on a few raisins, and getting his swing to…..well…..swing !! He does it so well I thought he was going to
fly out at one stage – I think in a year or so he is going to be difficult to
keep track of ! Trooper and I stood at
the end of the pit near Jack, and Trooper was absolutely fascinated to be so
close to the action ! The milking
operation they have set up is totally automated, the cows some in by
 |
| Jack in his swing in the dairy |
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| Trooper and Max having fun |
More photos of our time on the farm here :- https://goo.gl/photos/3UNSD45YKjLoHCAD6
Targa High Country, Mt Buller, Victoria.
 |
| Cold and snowy at the top of Mt Buller |
On
Wednesday after Jos and Tony headed off to work, I packed up and set off to Mt
Buller, a couple of hours down the road in the Victorian High Country. Mt Buller is a ski resort in winter, and in
fact that is where I used to ski when I lived in Melbourne when I first arrived
in Australia in 1969 ! I absolutely love
the countryside down in this part of the world, and there are so many places to
camp by rivers and streams up in the mountains.
There was a big car rally to be based at Mt Buller for the weekend, with
a lot of Lotus people involved, and I ws looking forward to catch up with more
good Lotus friends. I arrived in Mt
Buller in the early afternoon, and went to the very top of the mountain at over
1700 metres looking for a
 |
| Summertime on Mt Buller ! |
Unfortunately
the mountain is classed as an Alpine National Park, and not only are no dogs
allowed on the mountain, but also no camping is allowed anywhere on the
mountain – grrrr, and that put an dent in my plans !! So I went back down into
Mansfield 40 kms away to look for somewhere to stay.
 |
| Lotus' in the centre of Mansfield |
I
found a campsite in town which, it turned out, the Targa had a special stage
which passed right outside the campsite !
And town was walkable, so I decided to stay there and catch up with the
rally as and when I can. So after an
afternoon walk around the town with Trooper, we had supper and turned in. It was warmer down here than up on the mountain,
but once the sun went down it got pretty cold – And of course I had forgotten
how old Victoria can be compared to Queensland – And had one pair of long
trousers and 5 pairs of shorts ! Whoops
! Thursday was a quiet day while most
of the rally competitors were arriving, but on Friday morning they were due to
pass through Mansfield on the way out into the countryside, so I was up there
at 8 am to see them all come through town.
This is a big event for Mansfield and the area, so the town has buntings
and flags everywhere.
 |
| Ashton & David on the Mansfield Special Stage |
On
Saturday afternoon one of the special stages was around the streets of
Mansfield, which had been closed for the event, and as mentioned this passed
right beside my camp site, so I set myself up and enjoyed seeing all the cars
speed past. Afterwards, all the cars
gathered in the centre of town and it was a big evening for everyone in town,
and I at last got a chance to catch up with my friends for a chat.
Sunday
was the last day of the rally, and I was planning to start heading home to
Queensland, but first I was going to meet the Targa guys over at Lake Eildon
for lunch. I went round the back way and
half
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| Setting off after lunch at Eildon |
More pics of Targa High Country here :- https://goo.gl/photos/Zm3mjJVpC5z41kUm7
Driving back to Queensland
This
afternoon I only made it to Huntly, just south of Dubbo, and decided to stop
after 300 kms – I found a cheap camp site at the local showgrounds which was
perfect, and after supper Troop and I turned in early. Next morning I woke up at 5.30 am so decided
to get packed up, and by 6.45 we were on the road. I usually need to stop about every 3 hours so
Trooper can have a drink and a pee, and he was certainly a lot more comfortable
in the car now than when we started out 10 days ago – I even think there is a
good chance that he might be able to make it across the Nullarbor for Christmas
– Something that a couple of weeks ago I thought was just not going to be
possible.
Today
I decided to push as hard as possible, not only to see how Trooper coped with
it, but also to see if it was possible to get home tonight. Janet is due back on Wednesday, so I could
get home on Tuesday, but if I could get home today, Monday, it would give me
time to clean up a bit before Janet arrives home. It turned out that Trooper was really good, we
only stopped 4 times, and he slept most of the way, and at 11.45 pm, after 17
hours on the road and 1400 kms, we arrived home. It actually hadn’t been too bad at all, and
Trooper was SO good. IT has been a great
10 days, catching up with lots of Lotus people, staying with good friends Jos and
Tony and Jonathon and Kate (and Jack !), and Trooper has got used to being in
the car again. But it was good to get
home, and while it was cold down in Victoria, it was really unseasonably hot
and humid in Queensland !! Can’t win !!
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